This and That---November 1, 2024 Edition

Four days before the election and I am sure you want to read something that has nothing to do with  politics.

Here it is.

A few random observations, charts and factoids to provide some context on what is going on in the world.

The World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees to win the World Series.

The only question is how was it that the Mets could not beat the Dodgers to win the National League?

You also can't help but admire the job that the Cleveland Guardians did this season in winning 92 games and making it to the American League Championship Series before losing to the Yankees with a payroll that was $210 million lower.

2024 MLB team payrolls.

One thing is certain.

There are a lot of people in Japan who are happy with the result.

Higher viewership in Japan than in the USA.

For context, the NBA Finals had 11.3 million viewers in June. A few years ago they were averaging 20 million.

 Average TV viewership of NBA Finals games in the United States from 2002 to 2024
(in millions)

123.7 million viewers in the USA watched Super Bowl LVIII earlier this year. That is the largest tv audience in history according to Nielsen.

Source: Nielsen

WNBA 

Caitlin Clark almost single handedly re-energized the WNBA this year.  TV viewership increased dramatically. However, a lot of the increase was in the games that Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever team played in.

Notice that the 18 most watched WNBA regular season games were all games in which Clark played in.

Source: https://sportsnaut.com/wnba-tv-ratings/

It is also interesting that four regular season games that Caitlin played in had more viewers than the WNBA Finals game between Minnesota and New York that had 2.15 million viewers.

Credit: https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/wnba-finals-2024-new-york-liberty-minnesota-lynx-espn-tv-viewership/

However, despite this increase in popularity, it is reported the WNBA will lose $40 million this year and its NBA investors are growing impatient with its lack of profitability.

What have the WNBA players done considering all of this news?

They have opted out of the collective bargaining agreement with the league in order to attempt to negotiate a larger portion of the increased revenues.

The only problem is that the increased revenues this year have still resulted in $40 million in losses.

How is this going to work out in the end?

Rising Interest Rates

The Federal Reserve lowered its key overnight borrowing rate by 50 points in September based on its assumptions that inflation was under control and the labor market was beginning to shows signs of weakness.

However, since that time Treasury bond yields have almost risen in a straight line higher.

The 10-year Treasury yield has gone from 3.642% to 4.295% in less than six weeks.

The 10-year yield heavily influences mortgage rates.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has gone from 6% to just over 7% in the same time period.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/US30YFRM?qsearchterm=30%20year

Gold is also up 10% since the Fed rate cut.

The Fed has signaled that it expects to cut an additional 25 basis points in November.

How long before the Fed has no credibility left at all?

Unprecedented Heat?

How often do we hear that we are in an era of unprecedented global warming?

This graphic of all-time U.S. statewide high temperature readings provides some necessary context.

46 of the 50 states set their record high temperature more than 30 years ago.

22 of the 50 state records are from the 1930's alone.

Source: https://x.com/ChrisMartzWX/status/1851617603673866461

Can you imagine the people in the 1930's believing that these high temperatures were due to man-made climate change?

Why do so many believe it today?

Fickle Favorability

I told you I was going to avoid politics in this blog post.

There is nothing about American politics.

Forgive me if I detour a little into British politics.

The Brits voted for the Labour Party in national elections in July that saw the Labour Party take control of the government.

Keir Starmer was installed as Prime Minister.

Starmer is off to a rough start.

Shortly after being named Prime Minister, Starmer had a 61% approval rating.

Starmer now has a 69% disapproval rating.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/

In the span of four months, Starmer's approval rating has dropped to about the same level as that of former Conservative Prime Minister Sunak when he was ousted.

Favorability is indeed fickle in the world of politics no matter where you are.